International Idols
This year, the Kite Festival is thrilled to be joined by some of the world's top kite fliers and designers! Here are just a few of those International Idols...
Al Farsi Kite team – festival supporters
The Al Farsi Kite team, is one of the most influential names within the kite world. The team led by head of the family, Abdulrahman Al Farsi, has commissioned many important kite designs over recent year’s including the current Official Guinness World record holder for the World’s Largest Kite made by Peter Lynn of New Zealand in the shape of a colossal 3D Kuwaiti flag. The Al Farsi kite team use their love of kites and patronage to entertain and involve communities and to promote better understanding of Kuwait culture helping to bridge the gap between East and West.
This year the Al Farsi’s are again supporting the festival and will be sending team members to Bristol to display some of their impressive kite collection. At the festival the Al Farsi’s will also be launching a major new kite design competition on the theme of ‘East meets West’ with the winners announced in 2011 as part of the Bristol International Kite Festival’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
Carol Jansen (Dutch Curacao)
Carole is from the island of Curacao, one of the Dutch Caribbean islands. She has been making kites for more than 40 years. Carol is also director of the Curacao Kite Foundation, (www.curacaokites.com) which she was founded in 1994 to promote flying of Kites. She has been to several International Kite Festivals. Her distinctive kites are made of bamboo and plastic.
John Pollock (USA)
John approaches his kites first as art pieces. He is an art teacher, an artist and a kitemaker. John is a Professor of Art at Montana State University-Billings, where he has taught since 1974. Painting and lithography, which are the areas of media that he works in, have also become his method of creating images on kites. Over the years he has received many awards and fellowships in printmaking, watercolor, and now in kitemaking. He started showing and competing with his kite on a national level in 1999 and has received awards every year since. John has spent time experimenting with different materials and processes. The successful results turned out to be fairly simple and involve the use of acrylic paint. Besides painting on kite material, John will occasionally create an image and directly print the image onto the nylon material using hand lithography.
René Maier (Switzerland)
Rene's kite career started in 1999 with the purchase of a small stunt kite while on summer vacation on the north sea island of Borkum. This led to bigger kites, and a greater understanding of how to match kites with the perfect wind. Soon he wa building his own kites - reading books and visiting kite festivals to learned as much as possible about single line kites. His first model was a small Bell box, built exactly according to the plan. Today he builds a range of beautiful kites, some to tried and tested designs, others to his own invention.
Heinrich Hohmann (Germany)
Heinrich works as an architect planning and building various office buildings, industrial plants and community buildings such as schools and sports areas. In recent years most of his kites have been entries for design competitions. Focussing his creative skills, finishing a new concept and working to a deadline is similar to his work as an architect. His designs are often an ensemble where a graphic or visual effect works across more than one kite. Besides building kites Heinrich also writes articles for kite magazines, instructions for classic kites and transferring Japanese kites into models made of modern materials.
Robert Brasington (Tasmania)
Based in Tasmania Robert started out as horticulturalist then became a full time kite designer and maker. Currently president of the Kite Flyers of Tasmania. Although his core business is sport kites he is known worldwide for his distinctive single line kites. These include large 3 dimensional sculptural cellular pieces up to 3m x 3 m which he calls ‘cathedrals’ as they emulate Gothic buildings with their tall spires, clover windows and curved vaulting. He is also known for his more minimalist and representational smaller flat kites
Peter Lynn (New Zealand)
A Festival favourite, Peter is one of the kite worlds’ true visionaries. Not only has he created some of the most spectacular single line kites on display at this years’ festival, but he is also the father of modern kite traction sports. His distinctive and colourful manta ray kite is a regular at Bristol whilst his octopi, geckos, turtles, teddy bears and latest 3D flying flags are crowd pullers at kite festivals around the world. He also often brings his unique commentary to the powerkiting arena displays!
Michele-Marie Bougard (France)
Michel-Marie is a French illustrator and has been designing, building and flying kites since his training course in architecture in the late 70s and early 80s. These studies have deeply influenced his idea and design of kites and illustrations.
Janneke Groen (The Netherlands)
Janneke is one of the longest standing overseas guest flyers to the Bristol Festival. She is one of the leading experts in applique which involves stitching different colours onto the kite to create a patchwork quilt which when flown allows the light to create a stained glass effect. Janneke has a background in textiles and her trademark is the application of her designs onto distinctive Japanese ‘sode’ or kimono kites. Janneke has recently been involved in the O-Mills kite wind power project with Dutch astronaut Wubbo Ockels and also has many other passions - including gardening, cheese and rollerblading!
Robert Van Weers (New Zealand)
Although born in New Zealand, Robert grew up in the Netherlands, where he was introduced to kiteflying (in 1981, when he was working as a chef!). This led to not only a love of flying kites, but also making them as well, originally on an old pedal- driven Singer sewing machine. Since then he has made numerous kites in all shapes and sizes, and in the last few years has started designing his own as well, including the award winning "Pirouette" and "Garfield". Recent designs include a monkey with a banana and a series of fish designs called ‘Fish in Line’ and other sea creatures.
Gerard Clement (France)
Gerard is the Founder and President of the French Federation of Kite and Vice-Président of the International Federation of Kites. With more than 30 years of kite flying, Gerard is the owner of an impressive kite collection from around the world, and as the author of of 5 books and editor of numerous articles, he has been acknowledged for his work in development and in preservation of the traditions of the kite in France. Gerard has also organised the Berck-sur-mer Kite Festival for the past 24 years.
Marco Cassadi (Italy)
Marco, an Italian now living in France, is a regular visitor to Bristol and one of the hardest working flyers on the field. His is known for his wonderful array of larger than life mermaids and Neptune kites which he often flies one above the other in a train. He has also developed a series based on traditional Italian culture including a Harlequin and Pinnochio whilst his latest designs include a 3D Coyote, a boat and a cherub designed in collaboration with fellow Italian Claudio Capelli.
Robert Valkenburgh (The Netherlands) – Wind Garden
Builders of Kites and Musical Wind Objects, Robert is a frequent guest of kite festivals around the world with his Wind Gallery Aerial and Aeolian displays. Fascinated by the humming of a tightly stretched kite-line, Robert started experimenting with wind generated sounds. This resulted in a wind orchestra, where various types of instruments, in different sizes and materials, give an extra dimension to these Festivals of the Wind. There are strings, bells and flutes, all played upon by the wind. Instruments which range from a copy of 16th Century European Aeolian cither to a Polynesian Bamboo organ, all together giving off a constantly changing and very pleasing and musical performance.
